I use a kerosene heater when I work in the garage as well. I've got a 2 car un-insulated space and the heater gets cranked up about 45 mins before I need to go out there. Run it on high for the first 45 and then drop it to med/low and it's warmer than the house, which we keep at 72°/73°.

I bought this one two summers ago at Lowes for $49 in the clearance aisle http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...5C7&lpage=none

 

27 would be nice...its 9 right now in WV. Supposed to get to nothing...zilch...zero by midnight.

 

+1 on this type. I use one with a single square burner as opposed to 3 small circular burners. ~50k BTU on high. Have a 2 wheel dolly it is straped into so I can easily move it around the garage without lifting it with fear of bumping into something. No smell, inexpensive to buy and to operate, and it will heat the garage in no time. Also, a ceiling fan or 2 operating in reverse mode keeps the heat from pooling at the ceiling.

 

OK... I'll confess, I'm a little paronoid about mosture in my shop.
Being a structural collision tech, (Bodyman), mosture in a shop can destroy my work.

 

hey ratcat. We cant be to paranoid when it come to a 20k$ harley!!!
I do not like to see an cold enigne sweat...thats not good. I'm with you on the paranoia.

 

Okay, I'm no engineer or rocket scientist or structural collision tech, but I can't understand why there is not a moisture problem with electric heat? And I'm talking about getting the heat reasonable for 3-4 hours at a time... evenings... The propane tank with the infra red looks pretty good, will that cause humidity and issues with the tran, engine, etc?

 

I run a 60K BTU propane heater off a 20 lb bottle to take the chill off. 20 pounds lasts about 4 hours on full blast.

Keeps the area right around where I'm working toasty.

I do need to insulate the garage though, If I seal up the area over the cars and insulate the walls it would probably help

 

Electric heat has no exhast, thus not burning a fuel. Metal things in your shop still my sweat with mosture as they are coming up to temp., like a cold beer does, But if you burn a fuel and it has no exhast stack to the outside, then the exhast from that propane or kerasene heat is going to be 90% water vapor. Meaning you are componding the condenation problem. Ventalation is the key here, to get rid of the water vapor.

 

Get a big oil-filled radiator style heater: no exposed heat source or spark source to catch fire from fumage, if any, and no refilling needed: just electricity. Takes a while to heat up but once it does, should be toasty!

 

Have you though about putting up some sort of temporary partition so that you only need to heat up a bay or smaller which may be more pheasable?